Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Dean Martin:I had never broken up [with
laughter] deliberately – you know, pretending to an audience that I thought he
[Jerry Lewis] was funny when he wasn’t. When he didn’t get the kind of laughs
from me, he began to try his stuff out on six guys we had around as court
followers. You might call them professional idiots. So Jerry didn’t come to me
any more for my opinion. He tried out his stuff on our idiot clique. He kept
those six idiots after we broke-up – only it got more like seven or ten idiots.
That kind of thing builds.

A moment after the '...at the theater." line, Jerry says something about how Faye Emerson will soon look with a microphone sticking out of her head, perhaps alluding to her uncalled-for "How are you and Dean getting along?" query. It isn't very long after that moment that Dean makes his exit.

Jerry talks about this appearance in 'Dean & Me': "...we were going to put our feelings on hold and do ten nights at the 500 Club...Imagine - ten nights in Atlantic City with a partner I wasn't speaking to...At one point The Today Show interviewed us live at the Club. There's a kinescope of that segment, and it's painful to see: Dean and I can barely look at each other."

It really is hard to watch, especially compared to all the early clips available from the Colgate Comedy Hour when they were both clearly delighted with each other!

I'm a long-time fan of Jerry's -- even though I know how people in show biz can't stand him. I'd really love to know why they canned him from the telethon. I can't believe that MD is raising anywhere near the money they raised when Jerry was hosting and it was a 20-hour show. How much could they have raised in the few hours that it was on last Labor Day? If anyone knows how much they raised last Labor Day, please post it.

In this particular clip, you can see how obnoxious Jerry was. But I must say that it was disgusting how Jerry wouldn't give Dean any respect when he sang his song. What Jerry did at the beginning of Dean's song was, indeed, funny. And he got off some great lines. But then he should have stopped and let Dean have his moment. If I were Dean, I would have said, "Eh, what's the use?!" and just walked off. Dean was so professional and gentlemanly, even in the face of being treated so shabbily by Jerry. Talk about "cool"! Wow! Watching Dean, in that situation, was the definition of "cool." After 10 years of this, you can really understand why Dean had had enough. He was famous, wealthy, and he didn't need to be made a fool of by Jerry any more.

Having said all of the above, I have to say that Dean and Jerry were truly the funniest and greatest comedy team ever. I've watched the videos of them at the Copa and I have yet to see anything funnier. Jerry was unbelievably brilliant in those days, and so was Dean. And Jerry, working without Dean, was never as funny. He really needed a foil like Dean -- someone to play off of and someone to work with.

It would be so great if Kliph could do a 10-parter with Jerry. It would be the best interview that Jerry ever gave.

Jerry is misquoted here. When he asked Faye Emerson "How are you and Skitch getting along?" he was joking about her shaky marriage to band leader Skitch Henderson. Faye returned the question about Dean to Jerry, who replied "Fine, and he doesn't have a beard." alluding to Skitch and his famous goatee.

It just doesn't get any better than this clip. Jerry did, in fact, reference this show in "Dean and Me" and if anything, understated the hostility that was apparent in this presentation. Poor Dean. He just couldn't catch a break. Watch how the camera follows Jerry all over the place and leaves Dean behind. By this time he'd given up trying. There was no "team" in this comedy team left. Can you blame Dino?

Even though Jerry comments on how difficult this appearance was, it comes off better than expected. The hostility is quite clear, however and Dean holds up well under Jerry's onslaught. The jig was up at this point... everyone knew it was over for the team... they were just playing out the string. Dean was so classy.

About Me

My long awaited book about comedy will be published by Grove Atlantic in 2015.
Longtime contributor to WFMU and CBC. Cited by Vanity Fair, GQ, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, The Onion, Salon, Slate, Atlantic Monthly, BoingBoing, Comedy Central, Dangerous Minds, WTF with Marc Maron, The New York Times, Vice etc.